"She's down this hall, ma'am." The doctor gestured, levitating his clipboard with a sigh. "Room 213, minor burn wounds... well, they would be if she'd let us treat her. I'm not sure if she's part of your group, but she mentioned things about 'god's earth' and claimed she'd been cursed into being a pony..."
He rubbed his forehead. "Unfortunately, we can't legally help her injuries until she signs a waiver, which she refuses to do. I don't know if you'll be able to get through to her, but I'm at my wit's end. Remember, no casting--she freaks out at that."
Lyra's expression fell a bit, filled with concern and worry. "This sounds more serious than most of the others, but I'll try my best. Uh, I hate… to ask this, but is she safe? She sounds very agitated."
The doctor frowned. “Safe for others? I’m not sure, but she hasn’t intentionally attempted to hurt anypony. Safe for herself...?” He shook his head. “Definitely not.”
Lyra nodded and took a slow breath. "Alright. Let's try to help her. She definitely needs a friend right about now." She flashed a bright smile, a little false and quickly falling to a more naturally friendly but not giddy expression. Trotting down the hallway, the unicorn reminded herself to not reach for things with her horn despite the natural inclination to do so. On reaching the right door she softly rapped on the door before attempting to open it. "Hello there?"
The voice that came through the door was clearly and very forcibly restraining itself from panic. “Not another one--Look, I’m going to be very clear, I’m not going to allow any of you so called specialists to hex me!” There was an odd bang and a groan. “Just let me out of this--this... place and I’ll be fine!”
Lyra opened her mouth to object to being called a specialist, or someone that would lay hexes, but came up short. She was a specialist in a few fields, and could turn somepony into a frog for a while if she really really wanted to. Yep… "Uh, hello. I'm not here to hex you, promise. I just want to get to know you, as a po--person. I hear you're having a very tough time right now and just want to hear about it." She gently pushed into the room, looking around curiously.
The mare on the hospital bed might have been beautiful, if her face wasn’t contorted in terror and her flanks weren’t covered in the twisted flesh of burn scars just visible from under the very tussled bedsheet. “You just want to hear about it? What are you, some sort of--of tabloid reporter?” She quickly adjusted the blanket to cover most of her green body, her blue eyes darting about warily.
Lyra approached with a hopefully encouraging expression. "Nothing you tell me leaves this room unless you want it to, promise. I'm not here to get a 'big scoop' or anything, just for you. What's your name? I'm Lyra Heartstrings." She pointed at herself, then sat beside the bed, looking over the green pony curiously and taking note of the subtle difference from her own coat.
The mare did seem to calm down slightly at her introduction, but it was clear from the way she absently tugged at her brown mane that she was still incredibly wary. “...If you’re going to try to get me to join your cult, I’m afraid I’ll have to turn you down. I have enough to worry about without, well... I’m sure you’re a very nice person, miss Heartstrings, but the answer is no.”
Lyra nodded softly. "Well alright, but I'm not sure what cult we're not joining, but it sounds icky. I don't generally 'do' cults if I can avoid it." She rolled a hoof slowly. "What do you like to do? I don't think I ever caught your name, miss…?"
“...Worthington.” The pony took a deep breath. “Amanda Worthington... I’m terribly sorry for the presumption, but you do have one of those cult marks on you. I shouldn’t be so quick to judge, not all past mistakes can be erased...”
Lyra looked herself over for marks before she quickly realized she was being daft and settled on her cutie mark. "You mean this?" She pointed at the golden lyre adorning her flank. "That's a cutie mark, not a cult mark. Do you know what a cutie mark is?" Not that she expected the most-likely once-human to know, but she hoped to build rapport.
“The... well, the people who found me informed me those marks were magical.” Amanda spat out the word in disgust. “I don’t know why they allowed themselves to be imprinted with such perverse mockeries, but I for one don’t believe in attempting to alter the grand design of the world. Even if...”
She trailed off, looking at her own hooves quietly.
Lyra followed her eyes to the end of the mare's legs. She decided to be bold. "Missing your fingers?"
The mare’s eyes snapped up. A moment later, the hooves here pushed against the mattress, clearly ready to shove her out of the bed in an instant. “How did you know--?!”
Lyra spoke slowly and carefully, lest she further alarm her patient/friend, "You're not the first once-human that I've had to give a hoof to. Some are happy, some are very sad, but you seem angry at yourself, and I want to help. I can't get your fingers back… but maybe we can figure out what to do with what we have?"
Very slowly, the tension began to leave the mare’s body. “So... you know who’s responsible for all of this, I suppose?”
"It's not a who." Lyra made a vague and wide gesture. "Just like that mark, the universe as a whole does things, like saying 'Hey Lyra, you really should get into playing a mini-harp, that'll be fun', and 'Hey Amanda, surprise, no fingers'. The universe has a sick sense of humor at times."
Amanda narrowed her eyes. “So you’re a cynic, then.” She let out a slow sigh, relaxing back into the bed. “Well, at least I know you’re not associated with whatever brought me here, if you’re so... dismissive. I take it that you chose that mark of yours after you started your... mini-harp lessons?”
Lyra tilted her head. "I'm afraid I don't entirely follow, but no, definitely not part of the reason you're here. I found the instrument on my own, as a wee little filly. It felt right, and bam, there it was." She pointed down at the flank. "I played it for years, even in a philharmonic. I didn't bring it with me today though."
The mare frowned. “So... one moment you were an innocent child, and the next you were cursed with that magical mark for all eternity?”
Lyra shook her head a little. "That's a little… extreme don't you think? Ok, see, I called it 'the universe' before, but most ponies call it 'Harmony'. It keeps things moving nice and smoothly. I mean, I've stopped playing the lyre professionally, but it's still part of my life, a good part. I don't regret being directed at it."
“Wait.... you think that your magic mark just happened naturally?” Amanda frowned. “That God himself simply descended from on high and said, ‘Here, have an image on your body that will forever alter your destiny, thanks a bundle’ and then just left you with nothing else?”
Lyra tapped her chin. "Well, he, er, she, whatever, didn't come down and point in my face. The mark was enough for that. It's up to us to figure it out. Sometimes the symbols aren't so obvious." She smiled at Amanda. "For instance, I like to think I help soothe people one-on-one by talking with them, just like the lyre does, and help even out sour notes in ourselves."
“I.... see. And... every one of you, ah, horsefolk simply gains these guiding signs... as a matter of course?”
"Most of us," agreed Lyra easily. "Once we find something that comes close to what we're good at, the mark just makes it a little more clear. There are a few exceptions, but hey, in what world don't po--people get lost sometimes?"
Amanda was silent for a moment. Her eyes shut as she tapped a hoof against the bed, ears flicking on occasion. “...A whole culture with such... Tell me, miss Heartstrings, when you think of... ugh, magic, what exactly does it mean?”
Internally, alarm bells rang, and Lyra made a dismissive gesture with a hoof. "That can mean a lot of things. There's the magic of harmony, for instance, that nopony really has a say in, then there's a unicorn's magic, which, while natural, is controlled by the pony and can be used for good or bad. What do you think, Amanda?"
“I think... that you’re using a word I recognize in a way I don’t, because your entire culture has that same usage. I suppose that you call the ‘magic of harmony’ is what I would call ‘miracles’.” She absently rubbed at her flank, letting out a sharp hiss of pain. “This magic of unicorns, though... what exactly is it?”
Lyra took a slow breath. "First, I want you to know that I want to be your friend, and I will never, ever, force you to do something you don't want to do. If I do something that bothers you, just tell me, and it stops, no ifs, ands, or buts. Alright?"
Amanda’s expression grew confused, but she gave a slow, hesitant nod.
Lyra reached up and gently poked her horn. "A pony with a horn is a unicorn. Our horn gives us certain magical abilities, most common of which are light, and levitation." She let her magic flow and her horn shone a bright cyan shade, showing off her power.
“Levitation? As in... you can fly?”
Lyra shook her head quickly. "Oh no, I never practiced levitation enough to carry myself around. I'll leave that to the pegasi." She looked around a moment, then pointed at Amanda's blanket. "May I borrow that?"
Amanda blushed for a moment, crossing her forehooves protectively over the sheet.
Lyra scratched that idea and a better idea came to her. She nuzzled open her pouch and out came a chocolate, held in her power. She floated it towards Amanda. "Would you like a treat? It's chocolate."
The mare frowned for a second. Then, very cautiously, she reached a hoof up to the hovering candy. When it brushed against the glow she pulled it back, but then she paused.
After a moment, she brought the hoof back up and under the chocolate treat. “Ah... thank you, I suppose. This... isn’t magical chocolate, is it?”
Lyra leaned forward a little. "Does being magically delicious count?" She released the chocolate, letting it settle fully in the hoof underneath it. "I'm joking. It was made by an earth pony, that is, a pony with no wings or horns, entirely without any magic besides growing crops, or in this case, making mighty fine chocolate."
Amanda was examining the brown object on her hoof as though it were a strange and possibly venomous new creature taking a nap. “Magically grown crops, you said... exactly what does it take for a pony to earn a horn?”
"Earn? All the unicorns I know of were born with theirs, mine included." She reached up to tap at it lightly. "It got a bit bigger with the rest of me, but it was always there. What would a pony do to earn a leg?"
“Oh, I assumed...” The mare trailed off for a moment, bringing the candy closer to her snout and giving a wary sniff. “When you say earth pony magic, you don’t mean that they... imbue their foodstuffs with it, do you?”
Lyra tilted her head. "No more than a, uh, human imbues things they make with their hard work and dedication. Ponies work hard to do what they do, and that can show in the result, but I don't think that's 'magic' like you're thinking."
Very slowly, the tip of Amanda’s tongue reached out and lightly brushed the confectionary.
After a moment, she nodded. “This does taste... very good.”
Lyra's smile became quite wide. "Go on, eat it. It's perfectly safe."
An amused smirk flickered for a moment on Amanda’s face. “Wouldn’t the doctors object? I am still recovering from....”
She trailed off, her expression becoming melancholy.
Lyra perked an ear. "You haven't done anything that chocolate is going to hurt. You don't need stuffy rooms and overbearing doctors."
Amanda absently flinched as her hoof rubbed at her flank again. “I... don’t know about that. The doctors suggested they... knew a spell. For... burns.”
Lyra nodded. "They probably do, but, if you don't like spells, then they can't make you have it. They can't even make you stay here if you don't want to be here." She sat up then stood up on her hind-legs. "If you want, I can show you where some other once-humans hang out. You could make some new friends with people that know what you're… where you're coming from, you know?"
The mare didn’t look at her at first, absently putting the candy in her mouth and chewing.
“...do... cutie marks, you called them? Do they... grow back?”
Lyra blinked softly. "Uh, well, they're part of the fur there. So long as the fur grows back, the cutie mark comes back with it." She tilted her head a little. "Is it… that bad? I mean…" She struggled with a better way of phrasing it. "They'll happily treat you when you're ready, if you're ever ready."
Amanda swallowed. After a moment, she nodded. “I... suppose it wouldn’t hurt to meet other victims... and maybe do some research on what exactly these spells entail...”
She almost pulled the blanket off of herself, but paused at the last minute.
“Ah... you wouldn’t happen to have some sort of basic, um, gown in that bag of yours, would you?”
Lyra shook her head quickly. "Not something I carry on a day-to-day." She pointed up at her tophat. "All I have in terms of clothes, but let me go check with the ponies here. One moment, alright?"
“I guess I can wait. I mean, I can see you’re comfortable enough parading yourself about like that--” Amanda brought a hoof to her mouth. “Sorry. That was a rude assumption for me to make. If your society is so... free, I shouldn’t judge.”
Lyra snorted softly, but looked more amused than offended. "You'd do just fine in Canterlot, but I should warn, sometimes the ponies up there still don't wear pants, like a shirt or coat covers everything in their minds or something. Be right back." And off she went, quickly locating some coverings.
Over zealous religious type was never my favorite....despite being religious myself....I'm not overdoing it.
you put "od" instead of "odd" was that on purpose?
6102915 Fixed!
*Sigh* I feel like I run into these guys every time I go to church.
I love your story so far but I'm not sure about the title for this chapter. She seems to be more superstitious than religious. But with there being so many religions and different subsets I shouldn't think of this as my religion because all interpretations and people are different. But I do love how Lyra talks to her to calm her. The big thing that got me was what was implied she did. In my reading and interpretation of my religious texts mutilation of the body was a sin, so her doing that to her self would have been the last thing on her mind even in a panicked state.
6103033 She woke up as another species. I'm willing to forgive her freaking out and acting a bit irrationally. What she needed was a friend, and Lyra's happy to be that friend.
That poor pony. Many of my extended family would probably try to remove their cutie marks too...
I really like this chapter.
I have never heard magic explained in such a way vary good.
the same with the cute make this is a vary simple way to explain it.
good job to the both of you.
Harts Fire
She kinda reminds me Carrie's mother from Carrie. I should re-read it soon it's a jam.
( havn't seen the movie though )
The cutie mark (which she seemed to have burn ) replacing the breast ( the "mal-bosses" she called in French )
I thought it was going to hate this chapter, good to see I was wrong.
people normally try to exaggerate the religion part with a character to the point it becomes a parody, while the true is that for most religion is just a small part of our personality.
6102909
Amanda doesn't strike me as a zealot. Mostly cause she isn't insane, she has strong religious beliefs and is trying to reconcile them with her situation, but doesn't feel like she's the kind who in a reasonable calm situation would act out violently. The zealotry religious refuse to clam down and see what's in front of them, and react violently towards others if they even THINK the other person disagrees with them and are more than willing to hypocritically put aside the tenants of there religion in order to "defend" it.
Yay, someone who takes religion WAY to far.
You know, people don't talk about it, but when someone goes nuts on another person because they practice a different religion, or have a different skin color (I know these kinds of people still exist, don't lie to yourself.) there just as bad, if not worse, than the terrorists/extremists who do what they do because 'God says so'.
This is a perfect example of someone who is an extremist in their religion. Sure she was confused, but really, she should have ASKED or something, instead of BURNING OFF HER MARK. And, while now better, and somewhat accepting, she still thinks of it as some kinda 'cult' or religion of very strict rules. She calls the other once humans bucking VICTIMS. Can't wait until she's broken.
I do like the way Lyra dealt with her, putting magic in relatable terms.
Ah, culture clashes. Rather dramatic ones. Vilifying the supernatural doesn't work well when it permeates every aspect of the local reality. Still, now that Amanda understands that there's no Devil attached—at least, not as far as the locals know—she can try to adapt.
6103353 Let's also not forget that she's not a proper zealot, otherwise she would have ATTACKED the Unicorns with extreme prejudice. She wasn't violent towards the others. She was just doing what she could to PROTECT herself in her own mind, from her own beliefs. Since she wasn't violent, I'm just going to say that she's on the more conservative end, but nowhere NEAR Zealotry. I mean she's been pretty open minded about things with Lyra, including actually contemplating the Facts in Lyra's wording. A Zealot would NEVER take someone's words about how things worked on their words alone.
Now instead of a nice little Cutie Mark, imagine if the symbol was a Swatzstika or something Satanic. Most people would be rather unwilling to have such a symbol upon their bodies, and would react rather harshly. What if someone from WW2 saw a group of Creatures who had a lot of Nazi stuff, but who ONLY upon CLOSER inspection turned out to NOT be racist in any way. Those people would probably react as bad or worse than this character.
I feel that you did a good job of balancing the Religious aspect, without being overly critical/judgemental. I feel that you did a good job, and I am happy to see Amanda doing so well, all things considered. I am the most pleased with how she was NOT reacting violently to others, which helps me see that she's not so much as a Zealot, but someone who takes her Religion rather serious with a more literal translation, at least in these areas. I also like how she is trying to understand the way the Pony World works, but balancing that with her own Religious views, coming into a more tentative acceptance.
This is certainly a VERY tricky and touchy subject, but I feel that you did a good job balancing everything.
I always look forward to reading each new chapter of your story, and I am rather curious to see what will happen next.
Though I AM curious....wasn't the doorway supposed to be shut, so that People wouldn't randomly start appearing in their world.
I'd actually be very surprised if things went as well as they did in this chapter.
If Amanda's mark was any anti-religious symbol, I could see her being a lot more defensive against magic. I'm surprised she ate Lyra's chocolate too, since she didn't have any reason to believe it wasn't magic filled save for a random unicorn's word.
Though, if Amanda's been here for a while now, and is starving and in pain, then that would make her a little more accepting. Still, that seems lucky, and even without considering that, it still feels lucky that everything went as smoothly as it did with someone who would mutilate themselves to get away from magic. After all, what's a little more pain?
I guess what I'm saying is that Lyra was way, way over her pay grade on this one, and would have failed in most cases if this were real life.
6103550 More people doesn't mean there aren't existing people still being found. That was pretty much just happened. That and I give no timestamps for when these happen.
6103597 Lyra's over her pay grade for most of this fic.
6103769
True. Shouldn't that come back to bite her though?
6103841 Lyra's had an easy time of things?
If those burns are self-inflicted, why don't they declare her mentally unsound, and therefore unable to refuse treatment?
edit: thought about it for a minute, and I guess forcing treatment would have only made her more hysterical, and more dangerous.
The question of why she's free to leave still stands.
6103924 A: Lyra's trying to be comforting and empowering. B: This isn't America, or Earth.
6103896
Well, I wouldn't say she had it easy, but none of her psychiatric visits turned into the disasters they could've been, and none of her patients decided seeing her was a bad idea. This chapter seems exemplary of that.
Unfortunately, most people you collab with won't want to create a patient that runs away less than half way through the visit, even if their character would normally do that in real life.
6103990 Well I don't tell them not to. One of them could leap at Lyra and start beating her to death and it would make her such a sad pony. Don't hurt Lyra, she means well!
6104029
True. But it would mean they get to do less writing, so they're probably not going to do it.
6104037 I can't control that. You CAN blame me for the original set of ponies though.
6104040
Actually, the original set was more believable. Lucy might have known something about psychiatry, and Sam could've been a bit more against the psychiatry, but they don't seem like they would be nearly as much trouble as the drug addict or the person who's questioning her religion.
I don't know how the others acted in their collabs, but I constantly said you were allowed to change my character if you didn't think he or his actions fit with the story. Besides, you're the one who gets the final say on whether the chapters get posted or not. I understand not wanting to seem rude, but you could always just suggest how you'd like things to be changed and see if they go along with it.
6104085 That is a lot less fun for me. I want to create something together, with me playing Lyra and the world, and you get your character. Folks are free to be belligerent, violent, or just downright petulant to Lyra.
6104098
Huh. I don't have much of a problem with it...
Oh, you could also request for collabs that would get violent or petulant, that way you're not changing work, just selecting it. (And you're already selecting it right now, since the setting is always Lyra doing psychiatry.) You could also let them have multiple characters, one being the patient, the other somepony consoling Lyra.
6104168 I somehow imagine one once-human being mean to Lyra and leaving her in tears only for the next once-human to cheer her up.
6104176
Well, that's a possibility. That could get a little ridiculous though, with the once-humans just popping up out of every corner, just in time to save Lyra's feelings.
I think Lyra rose to the challenge of this new pony quite well. Starting from zero in a culture with an entirely new set of views and values would intimidate almost anyone. The acceptance of nudity. The new tattoo, (especially if it occurred to them after they got here). Frankly I'd be more worried about the ones who would 'seem' to be able to 'just roll with it'.
And here we see Lyra at her best as she quickly finds ways to calm down and befriend someone who was clearly extremely distraught. (Yeah, waking up as a pony, the first thing I WOULDN'T do is try to burn off a new tattoo.) She's getting really good at her new found vocation.
I guess Amanda's been in Equestria from before the stabilization....
How many once-humans do you plan as a maximum? And how many do we have right now?
I wonder how many more you can add before my Suspension of Disbelief breaks...
Typo: "THe doctors"
6104410 What's the hard part, that a large number of folks fell through, or that they all got dumped on Lyra? Or what horrors await the ponies who fell through the other end?
6104470
Well, the stabilization was to stop any more people from coming through, right? So, my SoD would break if, ...
Well, on thinking about it, we have no idea on when the once-humans started arriving, or a limit on their appearance rate...
So as long as you keep the average once-human from being too disruptive, so that there's a good reason why Lyra's founded the once-human therapy-thing, instead of having been founded earlier, you could have tons of once-humans in Equestria.....
And now I'm thinking that all the sentients of Equestria or Equus, or whatever you call the planet that the once-humans are on, could have been founded by once-humans... that crossed over and started breeding... ....
6104659 There's also some who may have been arrested and locked away, who only later may be diagnosed as needing Lyra's attention.
6103514 derpicdn.net/img/2014/4/24/608870/medium.png
Really?
6103353 Fascinating....
It's weird really...
Putting aside their moral...
They are the Knight Templar type I guess.
6105681
I'm actually not sure what is is about the character that strikes people are the aggressive religious type. There are people who are strongly religious and defensive about their beliefs and STILL not violent toward others. She comes off as a passive aggressive and in need of help, but no as an attacking force. Seems more of religion as a crutch rather than a sword.
6105704 The weird hatred for the Unknown. AKA: Magic. Is one of the reasons. [Though, a long time ago...The Church actually didn't see magic (or at least the concept of magic for those of you who don't believe in it) to be evil...Now, it has changed for some reason) as something bad, just something weird]
Screaming bloody murder most of the time is another...Looking back, it's not as bad as some, but it is still very bad and if we gave her a gun right then and there, she might used it.
Moral codes and the commandment means shit to the overzealous/dogmatic/fanatical religious people.
I'm fine with religion because I am religious myself, but I try to keep an open mind and then there is also the "You don't blame the tools for the action of its wielder." and "Treat someone as a monster for long enough and they will become the monster you fear most." thing I keep reminding myself.
6099872
Huh. I suppose that makes sense... It just felt sudden to me, how quickly he shifted gears like that. But, he's your character so I'll get over it.
6104470
If you're going to go into the stories about ponies falling onto Earth, you might want to do some research into different cities, and you might want to choose places other than America, lest you anger some of the people in the 'Humans are Awesome' or 'ponies aren't monsters' groups. Here's a good tool to find truly random places on earth. (For coordinates away from civilization, you can assume they traveled to a nearby city.)
The thing is, just like how people would be treated differently in different parts of Equestria, ponies would be treated differently in different parts of the world, or even different parts of America. Ponies that wound up in Detroit or in the middle of a war-zone would be in deep trouble, and could easily die, just like how any human could die in those places. However, ponies that wound up in Boulder, Colorado or Switzerland would be much, much better off.
This is why I dislike religion, ugh! But, I suppose that maybe I can... tolerate it... Freakin' brony code...
Anyway, good chapter! I imagine that's pretty much how a strongly religious person would react. Burning your own flesh, though... O.O
...so I am a Christian and yeah. I believe in the magic as in witchcraft.
The subject of which is complicated.
Suffice it to say it means contracting with demons and the devil.
It can't be something born into you.
It's a curse on the user as much as the target as it corrupts the mind and soul. No good may come of it.
Siooo complicated. If you want an info sourse...message me.
I get what this sentence is saying, but it just sounds weird in my head.
6110756 Tweaked.
And this is how you ruin a story with a single chapter.
Now that made me go from really liking to loathing this story insanely quick. Have a huge dislike and a nasty comment.
6931971 You've provided nothing to work with.
6106356 While I do agree that 1. That kind of "magic" exists in reality and 2. That it's evil by definition, it's NOT the same thing as used in most fiction, MLP included. THOSE rely on systems that are observeable, testable, and repeatable, thus falling under the domain of science instead. Entirely natural forces, NOT supernatural. If it helps, just call it an "extra-normal energy" or something (as in, it's "in addition to", not "beyond" or "parallel to").
That being said, I don't blame either you or the character for making that mistake, considering my Dad also mixes those two up. I guess most people just subconsciously apply MST3K mantra to the subject whenever it comes up or something.
6106356
I'm not christian, i'm animistic and polytheistic, Including Jehovah (calling him God would be denying the existence of other deities, which do exist on the same level. ) but I have an interest in paranormal matters and there is plenty of material that works with the collective subconscious, altered states of consciousness (achievable without drugs, what do you think sleep is?) and the holographic nature of reality, (they have proven that atoms are really energy at the core lending credulence to that,) rather than devil dealing (I'd only deal with a demon if I could trick it out of it's claim on my soul through a legal loophole). I find satanism abhorrent, but witches in my readings were more the people who knew something about herbs effects
in a more joky vein, here is evidence that harry potter and dnd spells dont work.